A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a pipe repair clamp and more particularly to a single pipe repair clamp that is adapted to repair pipes of varying diameter and to a pipe repair clamp that may be used with other similar pipe repair clamps to repair various lengths of damaged pipe.
B. Description of the Prior Art
The use of pipe repair clamps to repair breaks or leaks in pipes is well known. A typical clamp includes a gasket strip which is wrapped around the pipe over the broken or leaking area and a flexible band that is in turn wrapped around the gasket sheet. The band is normally held together by a pair of lugs attached to the ends of the band and held together by bolts or the like. Typically, a metal strip is attached to one of the ends of the gasket sheet and is positioned to underlie the lugs. Examples of pipe repair clamps of the foregoing type are disclosed in any one of the following patents: Hauffe U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,708; Daghe et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,020; Dunmire U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,833; Hoke U.S. Pat. No. 2,897,568; and Halterman U.S. Pat. No. 3,173,450.
The devices of the foregoing enumerated patents are adapted for use in repairing pipes of a single diameter. Since most piping systems include pipes of varying diameter and type, it is necessary for the pipe repair facilities to stock a large number of repair clamps adapted for various diameter pipes. Additionally, the presently existing pipe repair clamps are of fairly uniform width so as to cover a fairly uniform length of pipe. However, occasionally the broken or leaking area of the pipe is longer than the width of the standard pipe repair clamp. Accordingly, it is necessary for the pipe repair facility to stock overwidth clamps so as to be able to accommodate such longer breaks. A shortcoming of such overwidth repair clamps is that it is difficult to know how long to make them and, due to the varying diameters of the pipes, a large number of them must be inventoried at all times.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a single pipe repair clamp that is adaptable to repair breaks or leaks in pipes over a large range of diameters. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pipe repair clamp of a uniform optimum width that is adaptable to be used with similar pipe repair clamps to repair breaks or leaks over a substantial length of the pipe.